Election 2010: Final surge in voting registration sparks police headache
POLICE have received at least 50 complaints about serious voter fraud in advance of today s (Thursday s) elections amid warnings that the rapid rise of postal voting is making the system vulnerable to abuse. Accusations range from political activists putt
POLICE have received at least 50 complaints about serious voter fraud in advance of today's (Thursday's) elections amid warnings that the rapid rise of postal voting is making the system vulnerable to abuse.
Accusations range from political activists putting pressure on people to mark their party's box on the postal vote form, to phantom voters being registered by candidates and their supporters to farm votes.
The problems have emerged before most postal votes have been returned.
Most of the alleged abuses relate to the council elections in England, which coincide with the general election.
At the weekend David Monks, head of elections for the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, called for a ban on political parties handling postal votes amid fears that activists are collecting ballot papers before forwarding them on in order to record the results in their canvassing process.
This breaches a national code of conduct, but is not illegal.
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